A few weeks ago, the Dallas Cowboys declined the fifth-year option of cornerback Kaiir Elam, a guy they traded for this offseason.
The team acquired Elam in a trade with the Bills. Buffalo will receive a 2025 fifth-round selection and a 2026 seventh-rounder, while sending a 2025 sixth-round choice to the Cowboys along with Elam.
Dallas would be on the hook for $12.7 million in 2026 if they did not decline.
With that said, if I was Elam, it would light a fire under my you know what.
The Bills made Elam a first-round pick in 2022, and he played only 29 of a possible 51 regular-season games, starting only 12.
The Problem
Elam was unable to beat out the competition in Buffalo, with Christian Benford, Rasul Douglas and Dane Jackson among those who saw more playing time.
Elam totaled 81 tackles, six passes defensed and two interceptions with the Bills.
With Trevon Diggs recovering from his bone graft surgery on his left knee, Elam is going to have to play a big role early this season. Jourdan Lewis is no longer with the team as he signed with the Jags.
That leaves guys like DaRon Bland, Elam, Caelen Carson and Shavon Revel Jr. who the Cowboys drafted this March, but a projected first round pick is recovering from a torn ACL himself, so he won’t be ready for the start of the year.
That gives Elam an opportunity to earn more playing time than he had in Buffalo when he was a healthy scratch for multiple games and played only 939 defensive snaps in his time there.
I was never fully on board with him when they traded for the guy, but he is going to have a perfect chance early in the season to step in and earn his snaps even when Diggs returns.
Matt Eberflus is going to have his hands full of this defense and what he brings to the table.
I think he is much better on that side of the ball than a head coach, but it stinks that the defense is learning something new for the third year in a row.
Elam is going to have to play an important role for at least the first few weeks of the season until Diggs can get back up to speed, and watching his film from the Bills, nothing really jumped off, so here is to hoping that he can find his grove and be motivated due to the Cowboys declining that 5th year.
Bet on yourself, kid.
a Dallas Cowboys fan, since the 70’s I’m not shocked that Jerry Jones decline CB Kaiir Elam’s 5th year option because Jerry Jones doesn’t have enough to pay CB Kaiir Elam Jerry Jones need the money to pay both George Pickens and Micah Parsons
He has the money to pay all of them!! It don’t take a genius to know that!! And when they pay Micah Parsons, they’ll have even more money to use!! Elam didn’t get his 5th year option picked up because he wasn’t worth over 12 million for a year!! Why pay somebody 12 million for one year, when they can just let him hit free agency after this year and resign him for 2 or 3 million!! It would be stupid to pay somebody 12 million on a 5th year option when he hasn’t played good enough to even make half that much!! So the best thing to do is let him play out the year, and resign him for 2 or 3 million!! And if he finally has his breakout year, then we can offer to resign him for 10 or 12 million a year!! But it would be stupid to pay him that much until he proves he deserves it!! But after all that I just said, I’m sure you won’t even know what I wrote!! But so it’s clear, this front office has plenty of money, and wouldn’t have had any problems paying for the 5th year option!! And when they pay Micah Parsons, they’ll have even more money to spend!! So try learning more about how this stuff works before you come on here making a fool of yourself all the time with your stupid comments!!
And by the way, there’s no guarantee we’re even gonna resign George Pickens either!! This mite be just a one year rental!! But if this front office does decide to pay him, they’ll have plenty of money to do it!! They can sign Pickens, Elam and Parsons and still have money left to spare!!
And you notice how I said THEY can sign them and not JERRY right…. That’s cause Jerry IS NOT over the cap space anymore, that’s his son Stephen Jones job!! So signing players falls more on Stephen Jones than it does Jerry!! When it comes to the big fish, Jerry will get involved, but most of the time, chances are that it’s Stephen Jones making the decisions on how much money to spend and what players they need to spend money on…. Not Jerry!! So like I said, learn how this stuff works and who really does it before you make your stupid comments!!
a Dallas Cowboys fan, since the 70’s my comments are the truth it’s all the sports media groups who don’t know what they are talking about
LMFAOOOO!!!! Elam is a BUM!!! Bro is trash and tried to talk bad about Buffalo after getting the boot! Dallas will drop him after this season too hahahahahaha